Motorists faced major delays because of a broken down mobile crane on the A3 on Thursday morning.

The vehicle came to a halt on the northbound carriageway near Guildford at around 7.30am.

It was between Egerton Road (Cathedral Turn) and the A322 Worplesdon Road/A25 Midleton Road/Guildford Business Park Road (Wooden Bridge).

There was congestion on the A3 to Old Portsmouth Road (Thursley) after one lane was blocked.

The incident caused long delays on the A3, the A31 Hog's Back and around Guildford.

There were reports of queues for up to seven miles and delays of more than an hour.

Aldershot News & Mail news editor, Pete Bryant, one of those caught up in the delays, said: "I left for Guildford from Fleet at just after 8am on what is a 25-minute drive with no traffic.

"Obviously I expected to hit a bit of congestion at that time, but my heart sank when I saw traffic at a standstill on the A31 Hog's Back at the A331 slip road.

"Again, this isn't that unusual but what was unusual was that it remained gridlocked for the entire seven miles to the A3.

"It took an hour-and-a-half to cover that distance."

He went on: "Once on the A3, police had closed one lane just after the hospital slip road and there was a large vehicle parked up.

"Officers were talking to the driver. The roads were fine beyond that point so I think my journey was affected entirely by that vehicle being stopped on the A3, although I know other people who were delayed coming into Guildford from other routes."

Highways England posted just before 11am that the crane had been removed from the scene.